With the 2012 NFL draft approaching, New York Jets backup quarterback Greg McElroy remembers telling starter Mark Sanchez his preference for their second-round pick.
He just couldn’t shake the memory of Oct. 10, 2010 on a hot afternoon in Columbia, S.C. There, Alshon Jefferey tortured Alabama along with an unlikely quarterback hero coached by a legend on the backside of his career.
The Jets ultimately passed on Jeffery for Georgia Tech’s Stephen Hill and the Bears snatched the former Gamecock two picks later. Hill played two years before a knee injury bounced him from the league and Jeffery is averaging 14.6 yards a catch entering eighth NFL season -- now with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jeffery’s legend really took off that early October afternoon of his sophomore season at South Carolina. The seven catches and 127 yards included two touchdowns in a wild scene in the shadow of the South Carolina state fairgrounds.
The Gamecocks’ 35-21 beating of No. 1 Alabama ended the Crimson Tide’s 19-game winning streak as the defending national champions. And when the two meet again on the same field Saturday, South Carolina remains the only SEC team who hasn’t lost their most recent meeting with Alabama.
That 2010 game remains a moment in time still celebrated by a South Carolina program since eclipsed by in-state rival Clemson on the national scene. Slaying the dragon was supposed to kickstart a program stuck in perpetual 7-6 seasons but the bump wouldn’t come until the next few seasons.
South Carolina finished 9-5 after beating Alabama and winning the SEC East only to take a 56-17 beating by Cam Newton and Auburn in the SEC title game. Florida State beat them in the Chick-fil-A Bowl but a seed was planted that day when Alabama staggered out of Columbia with its first loss since the Sugar Bowl fiasco against Utah on Jan. 2, 2009.
South Carolina’s historic win certainly meant something to two future Gamecocks, T.J. Brunson and Bryan Edwards. Both seniors now, they were just kids growing up in the state when 19th-ranked South Carolina beat Alabama.
“It was loud,” said Brunson, a Columbia native. “That was the biggest thing. It was so loud. The stadium and the crowd was really just …”
He remembers going to his aunt’s house in the Five Points neighborhood -- maybe 2 miles from Williams-Brice Stadium.
“When they won, just hearing the crowd from the stadium all the way up there,” Brunson said. “It was a really crazy day.”
Two-and-a-half hours away, Edwards was watching on TV in Conway, S.C.
“I remember Marcus Lattimore, Stephen Garcia, Alshon Jeffery’s one-handed catch,” Edwards said. “You know, I am a South Carolina kid so I remember it like it was yesterday. It kind of set South Carolina on fire, you know?
“I would love to do that again.”
Slightly different circumstances will greet Alabama on its return to Williams-Brice.
After three straight 11-2 seasons from 2011-13, South Carolina slid back to the middle of the SEC East pack. There was optimism coming off a 7-6 year last fall with Opelika product Jake Bentley settling in at quarterback, but he got hurt in an upset loss to North Carolina on opening weekend.
South Carolina doesn’t have generational talents at receiver (Jeffery) and running back (Lattimore). Quarterback Ryan Hilinski is a true freshman making his first start against an FBS team after beating Charleston Southern, 72-10 on Saturday.
And Alabama’s defense will be more experienced than the 2010 group who had to replace almost the entire first unit from the 2009 national title team.
Nick Saban wasn’t dwelling much on a game from nine years ago when presenting the game plan Monday.
“What year are we in now? 2019?” Saban said. “So most of our guys were in grade school when that happened. But what I remember from it is we got the lining kicked out of our britches. I don’t know if you know what that means, but that means you get your butt kicked so bad you got no seam in the back of your pants. So, yeah, I remember that.”
Still, the 14-point beating from Saban’s fourth Alabama season remains with some of those on both sides of the final outcome no longer involved in the day-to-day.
“My memories? 35-21,” Spurrier said in July without skipping a beat. “Stephen Garcia had the best game of his life, 17 of 20. Alshon Jeffery caught a couple of touchdowns. Marcus Lattimore ran for 90-something yards.”
The stats were spot on with no time to think for the now-retired coach. Garcia was, in fact, 17-for-20 for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Lattimore had 93 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 23 attempts.
It was nearly a blowout midway through the first half. South Carolina took a 21-3 lead after McElroy was sacked and fumbled on the first snap of the second quarter.
“I remember I held onto the ball too long on a few different occasions trying to make a play and looking back on it, you remember those things,” McElroy said. “Looking back on it, I can remember one play in particular where I should have hit Darius Hanks on a little corner route on the left-hand side and it’s touchdown. I didn’t and got sacked.”
Alabama missed a 31-yard field goal on the next snap and the hole remained 18 points.
The game also took a toll on the Tide’s health. Julio Jones broke his hand at some point early before somehow finishing the day with eight catches and 118 yards. Starting right tackle D.J. Fluker also hurt his groin and would take a few weeks to get back to full speed.
Jones missed just one game after stitches opened a week later against Ole Miss after he had a plate inserted to help his healing hand.
There was hope after halftime against South Carolina after Garcia took a safety on the third quarter’s first snap. Spurrier looked perplexed when the quarterback chest-passed a high shotgun snap off the crossbar for a safety.
Alabama then got the ball inside Gamecock territory in the fourth quarter after Will Lowery intercepted one of Garcia’s three incompletions. The drive stalled and a fake field goal throw from AJ McCarron was dropped by Ed Stinson and South Carolina clinched it with a touchdown on the next drive.
Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron throws a pass on a fake field goal attempt late in Alabama's 2010 loss at South Carolina.The Birmingham News / Mark Almond
“I just remember it being one of those games where we just couldn’t really do anything right,” McElroy said. “We had a lot of youth on the defensive side. They had really big, physical wide receivers that were tough. Stephen (Garcia) played remarkable in that game. Coach Spurrier called a remarkable game offensively.”
It was Jeffery who really put the game away on that final scoring drive. His one-handed catch over sophomore cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick put the Gamecocks inside the 10 with the air completely out of the Alabama balloon. Arkansas threatened ended the Tide winning streak two weeks earlier and South Carolina finished the job.
From the sideline, McElroy could only watch as Lattimore’s second rushing touchdown finished the drive electrified by Jeffery’s one-handed catch. It happened right in front of the Alabama bench.
A year-and-a-half later, McElroy made his case to make Jefferey a teammate.
“We took a different guy that year,” McElroy remembers. “I wanted Alshon.”
Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.